title: Asthma update.
abstract: Asthma continues to be one of the most common reasons for emergency department visits and a leading cause of hospitalization. Acute management involves severity-based treatment of bronchoconstriction and underlying airway inflammation. Optimal treatment has been defined and standardized through randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and consensus guidelines. Implementation of clinical practice guidelines may improve clinical, quality, and safety outcomes. Asthma morbidity is disproportionately high in poor, urban, and minority children. Children treated in emergency departments commonly have persistent chronic severity, significant morbidity, and infrequent follow-up and primary asthma care, and prescription of inhaled corticosteroids is appropriate.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: Kyle.nelson@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Kyle A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Joseph J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zorc
mesh_terms: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents
keywords: Acute; Asthma; Emergency; Pediatric; Treatment